On Aug 31, 2024, 20 local community members and volunteers gathered under the towering trees in the Douglas Fir Teaching Garden for our Nature is for Everyone: Annual General Meeting.
Erin Knock, Free the Fern President, welcomed everyone and gave a land acknolwedgment. We then were honoured to have Laura Meehan with WILD Outside, share her knowledge on best ways to help youth connect with nature. We hope to do more to welcome youth in the coming year, as part of our Nature is for Everyone Program.
We then had a break for tea and snacks (with some yummy baked goods brought by participants). It was great to see so many familiar faces out, many of whom have volunteered with Free the Fern over the past year.
After the break, Grace Nombrado, Free the Fern Executive Director, shared some of the successes of our past fiscal year (Aug 15, 2023-Aug 15, 2024), including:
- 615 event volunteers
- 1,218 volunteer hours
- 50,960 L of invasives (over 141 large city green bins!) removed
- 1,203 native plants planted
- 84 wheelbarrows of mulch moved
Grace then honoured local Elder, Marge Wylie, with the title of “Elder in Residence”
On behalf of the board, she also honoured the local community steward, Damian Assadi, the title of “Everett Crowley Park Liaison”
Then, Erin shared our new Equity, Diversity, and Inclusion Policy, and our members voted to approve this working document.
Following which Free the Fern Treasurer, Joshua Ralph, presented our proposed Budget for 2024-2025. Which was then approved by our members.
Finally, we had 3 nominees for our board of directors introduce themselves:
- Cole Reintsma
- Ellie Weber
- Sylvia Dickson
All board nominees were then elected by acclimation. We welcome each of them and are grateful for their committement to Free the Fern.
Thank you to all the partcipants at our AGM: Andrea, Baby Theo, Barbara, Catherine, Chris, Ellie, Erin K, Erin W, Genevieve, Grace, Joe, Joshua, Laura, Marge, Nigel, Rana, Jordan, Silvia, Sue, and Yasmine.